How Blackburn’s house prices have changed in the last decade

Innumerable life events have taken place in the last 10 years including financial crashes, referendums and of course, a global pandemic; all of these events have a knock on impact on the local property market.

Using Land Registry, we can compare average property prices to see how they have changed throughout the years.

We can also see if significant life events had an impact on the local property market.

Let’s take and in depth look at the Blackburn property market to see how it has changed in the last decade.

How house prices have changed in Blackburn with Darwen
(Data from January 2010- October 2020)

As you can tell from the graph, average property prices have fluctuated significantly over the last ten years and property prices last September were the highest they had ever been in 10 years.

When you compare the figure from January 2010 to the most up-to-date October 2020 data, house prices have increased by 10 per cent.

Of course, the 2020 pandemic has also had a significant impact on the local housing market.

A representative of Stones Young Sales and Lettings (Blackburn-based estate agent) said the pandemic has led to an increased  demand for properties with gardens and driveways.

The company have also witnessed an increase of properties coming to the market- and it turn an increase in demand.

A stamp duty holiday was announced in July 2020 which was meant to be a financial incentive for locals to keep buying houses.

In Blackburn the incentive seemed to have worked as property transactions increased by 51 per cent between June and August 2020.

She explained: “This, together with the stamp duty holiday has led to many houses currently achieving the asking price and above.”

However, this statistic is only relevant for 2020 on its own and property transaction figures are much lower given the perspective of the entire decade.

As the graph shows, property transactions in Blackburn were the lowest they have been since 2012.

However, given that house viewings were unable to go ahead and people were being encouraged to say at home, it is unsurprising that these property transaction figures were so low.

How this data compares to the rest of England

While the average property price in Blackburn with Darwen is much lower than the England average, the house prices have followed roughly the same trends- but with a few exceptions.

At the start of the decade, the UK was still recovering from the 2009 global financial crisis.

Gráinne Gilmore, head of research at Zoopla said average UK home values only recovered to pre-financial crisis levels in 2015 and “have since climbed by a further 24 per cent”.

However, Ms Gilmore added that the North of England came out on top in terms of price growth in recent years which she puts down to “increased affordability” of houses in the area.

When you compare January 2015’s figures to January 2020’s, house prices have increased by 16 per cent.

In April 2016, stamp duty was increased on additional homes and more expensive homes.

According to Gráinne Gilmore, this “slowed price growth” in the South of England.

However, the same can’t be said for Blackburn with Darwen where house prices increased by more than 9 per cent (between April- August 2016).

Grainne Gilmore added that the 2019 election also had a significant impact on UK housing prices.

She added: “The general election at the end of 2019 - which provided a definitive path forward for Brexit -  unleashed a new wave of pent-up demand [for property].”

Between the election and the announcement of lockdown (November 2019- March 2020) property prices increased by 0.6 per cent in the UK.

In Blackburn with Darwen, property prices actually decreased by 1.4 per cent, signalling a decreased demand for property and going against the national trend.

Just like the rest of the UK, Blackburn with Darwen experienced a housing boom last summer when house prices began to increase.

Between May and August, house prices increased by 6.3 per cent and this figure continued climbing into September.

September 2019 property prices were per three per cent lower than those in September 2020.

How will house prices change in the future?

There has been a lot of activity in the property market in 2021 and a spokesperson for Zoopla said Christmas 2020 was their busiest festive period for a decade and the demand for property has spilled into this year.

This means it is bad news for those hoping to buy a more affordable house this year.

Ms Gilmore said: “Looking ahead, we expect house price growth to reach 5% … and then slow down by the end of the year as demand starts to ease in the second half of 2021.”